Is an uptick in night-glowing clouds a byproduct of climate change?

Night-glowing clouds

NASA

NASA

Tamara Dietrich

Could an uptick in night-glowing clouds be another byproduct of climate change?

Scientists say it could be.

According to NASA, clouds that seem to shine at night are called noctilucent clouds, and the phenomenon seems to be increasing at lower latitudes — the lower part of Canada and the northern third of the U.S.

Hampton University professor James Russell is part of a study of the phenomenon and authored a paper that appeared last month in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. Russell is an atmospheric and planetary scientist.

“Noctilucent clouds occur at altitudes of 50 miles above the surface — so high that they reflect light form the sun back down to Earth,” Russell said on NASA’s website.

Such clouds needs very cold atmospheric temperatures in order to form, Russell said, but temperatures at that height don’t correlate to temperatures at lower levels.

Russell and his team will conduct more research to find out if the increase in occurrence could be due to a reduction in the sun’s energy and heat, said NASA, which went from a solar maximum in 2002 to a minimum in 2009.